Escape/Engage Cycle
How many times do we just want to check out for a while? Life is hard.
For many people the daily grind is monotonous and maybe frustrating, with the constant struggle to meet expectations. Our expectations and the expectations of family, friends and associates can be more than we can easily handle. People expect not only their needs met, but their desires for gifts on occasion. Then, things break or wear out and need to be fixed or replaced. Time and money have a way of taking up our lives.
What are we actually here for? We might ask ourselves on occasion, but I wonder how many people keep the question in front of themselves and stay true to their answer.
I always told my children that they could only fight about life and death or heaven and hell questions. Nothing else is important enough to argue or fight about.
For people involved directly in ProLife efforts, there is always something to fight about, because it is always life or death conversations. AntiTrafficking activists have similar exposure. We are constantly engaged with intense situations. The subject matter is intertwined and seriously tragic. The lives and eternities of people are always in the balance in cases of trafficking, rape, abortion, euthanasia and Obamacare.
Social media gives us a great potential to interact on a large scale. However; it also has the potential to overwhelm us with too many fronts and too many tragic stories. We must fight for innocent and vulnerable people who cannot fight for themselves. Obviously, a pre born baby cannot stand up for themselves. Neither can a disabled infant or a severely disabled older person. Many very elderly or brain inured people cannot defend their own right to life. So, similarly, a trafficking victim cannot defend his or her rights. Many know that to speak at all is to invite severe pain or even death. We, who are able, have a moral obligation to defend those among us without a voice.
But what about when one looses the ability to laugh and have fun, to relax and refresh? It is my strong belief that we must retreat on occasion. God required one full day of rest for every six days of work. He also required feats, which were like worshipful vacations and even one full year every fifty years that were for times of refreshing, rebuilding and reconnecting with Him and with each other.
Sometimes, just playing cards with pleasant people or watching a nice movie is enough distraction from the constant barrage of trauma, death and despair that is so prevalent. At other times, we really need to unplug the world and just plug into God and His Word. Spending time away from the demands of daily American life as part of the escape and engage cycle is healthy and will help us be more productive when we are in the fight and will help us maintain our support system, so we can fight for life.
As we get closer to electing people who can influence laws to protect the right to life and other rights, we need to be ready to go to battle. How do you plan your times of refreshing?
- Family night
- Worship Gathering
- Trip to a Park
- Movie night
- Structured retreat
- Conference
- Weekend away
- Staycation at home